CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Praying at Mass in the name of the
Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier is a vivid memory for Martha Mallan of Charleston,
W. Va.

“There was a great deal of experimentation going on,” she
recalled of the church she once attended in Richmond, Va. “The hosts for
Communion looked like dark brown croutons.”

So when the Vatican reaffirmed Feb. 29 that baptisms using
non-standard formulae are invalid, Mallan started to worry if her children
were, in fact, proper Christians.

“Our youngest daughter is 26 now,” Mallan said, wondering if
her daughter, currently not a practicing Catholic, would consent to being
baptized.

As specified by the Vatican’s response, those baptized
invalidly must be baptized in forma absoluta (the valid form). According to
Edward Peters, who holds doctorates in both civil and canon law and teaches at
Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, that means conditional baptism will not
suffice.

“If you’re not baptized, you’re not Christian,” Peters said.
“When Rome says they’re invalid, it means they have zero effect. It takes the
mandate of Jesus very seriously. And really, baptism couldn’t be easier: Along with
the pouring of the water, all you have to do is get one sentence right.”

Additionally, any further sacraments would have to be
conferred, since one may not receive a sacrament without baptism (Code of Canon
Law, No. 842.1).

The invented formula of Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier —
which does not appear in any approved liturgical book — was denounced as the
Modalist heresy in the third century.

“The error,” Peters explained, “is identifying the persons
by what they do, not who they are. You can even go back to the burning bush: ‘I
am who am.’ God gives his identity — who he is — not what he does.”

Panicked Public

Why some priests and deacons chose to deviate from the
proscribed formula is actually mentioned in the Vatican response as the
“so-called feminist theology” of non-biblical denotations of the persons of the
Trinity.

“This is an agendized formula,” confirmed Bishop Robert Finn
of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. “I’ve heard it used even in the proclamation of
Scripture. This sort of thing does not happen haphazardly or by mistake. Every
Catholic school child learns how to baptize, in case of an emergency, in the
name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“One of the casualties of this kind of language is that we
ignore one of the most fundamental revelations of Jesus Christ: that he has a
Father, that we have a Father, and that the relationship between them is the
love that Christ bore to the world.”

Even with an error this serious, Bishop Finn thought that
the majority of the faithful need not worry.

“This kind of abuse is likely to be limited to places the
bishop knows well,” he said. “Bishops will make some inquiries discreetly, and
they have the responsibility to bring the perpetrators of this practice, who
have broken the laws of the Church, to profess faith in the practice of the
Church.”

Still, in the early days of the Vatican’s response, the
blogosphere buzzed with sensationalistic reports of hordes of children
invalidly baptized, as anonymous hit-and-run commentators recklessly posted names
of churches and pastors. Such reports generally took one incident and exploded
it in tall liturgical tale fashion, as at Pax Christi parish in Eden Prairie,
Minn.

“I don’t know who posted what or where, but we even got a
call from a worried couple in Texas,” said Deacon Al Schroeder, who has served
at Pax Christi for more than a decade. “I have always used the proper formula,
but there was one deacon here many years ago who did use the invalid formula
once. The bishop called right away and told him to stop. It hasn’t happened
since.”

In Brisbane, Australia, Archbishop John Bathersby has been
fighting the invalid form for nearly four years, and the Vatican’s response
directly answers the request he initiated.

“When the matter broke in 2004, I indicated the normal
formula should be used. It was only associated with one parish, and it was
corrected. I’m not aware of the practice having been used in other parishes,”
he said. “But it’s quite possible in more recent years that the one parish may
have reverted. I will be talking with the administrator of that parish [and
will] get an understanding of how many baptisms may be invalid.”

When in Doubt …

In Brisbane, the most rapidly growing area of Australia, the
faithful travel between churches with great frequency, Archbishop Bathersby
said. In an effort to reach everyone, his office has taken several steps.

“We have a dedicated phone number, cared for by a religious
sister,” he said, and she knows how to respond to each situation. “There have
only been about half a dozen phone calls so far. And in a letter I sent out to
all the priests, I said if anyone has doubt they should be treated with the
utmost sensitivity.”

Archbishop Bathersby expects the letter to be posted
conspicuously in every parish.

The possibility remains — no matter where in the world —
that someone invalidly baptized might die believing he was Christian.

“People are saying there must be a way around this,” Peters
said, “because it’s not the fault of the baby, the parents or maybe even the priest.”

One concept coming up is Ecclesia supplet, the idea that
where something has been deficient (proper words of baptism), the Church
supplies what is missing (valid baptism). As Peters explained,
however, Ecclesia supplet is the Church’s power to supply, under
limited circumstances, jurisdiction for an act (Code of Canon Law, No. 144.1).
And pretty clearly, this is not a case of jurisdiction: “The problem is
that the Ecclesia cannot supplet invalid sacramental form; it just doesn’t
reach that.”

But, Peters continued, there is no reason to despair.

“If that person died, God would provide for that child and
would certainly look upon the actions of the parents who desired for their
child to be baptized.”

He further clarified that while “baptism of desire” is not
sacramental baptism, it has always been taught as a means of salvation. “God is
the one who is allowed to work outside of his sacraments if he so chooses — not
us.”

Bishop Finn agreed.

“In the end, the most we can hope for is a true innocence. We
commend them in the same way that we do the unbaptized. The Church does not
exclude them from God’s mercy.”

For those who might have doubts about their status, Msgr.
Anthony Sherman, executive director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship of
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, advised: “The first thing to do is go
to your pastor. In many instances it can be addressed quickly. The mind of this
document is not to send people around in circles: it’s to help them.”